mistermikev

6 hours ago, MiKro said:

Mike, the tracking on mine was never an issue. The tripping of the breaker on it when I took more than 1/32" was a problem. Also keeping it parallel was an issue as most have only one side closed and the other open so they can do twice the width. I found that my 735 could do most of what I wanted to do, The CNC was also invaluable as was just good hand sanding.

MK

all good info mike.  I have wondered about that (one side open) - I see that grizzly makes one that is supported on both sides but uber expensive.  the cnc is def a great tool for it... I just find the planer to be pretty handy esp for anything bigger than my bed.  very much appreciate the insight!!

On 2/21/2023 at 12:46 PM, MiKro said:

I got rid of my thickness sander. A Jet and it was torture all of the time. I still have a thickness planer that is used maybe twice a year only on things for the house. I do have a CNC router and use that for surface planing guitar wood. The use of a router on a sled would give you almost the exact type of finish. The hold back on that is you cannot control the feed rate consistently like you can with a CNC. That being said, using a router sled is a good idea and least expensive. Maybe adding a lead screw to that mix similar to a lathe on the long axis with a handle and even a more consistent feed rate could be achieved. Use at maximum a 1" to 1-1/2" dia bit at say 10k-12K max RPM for that purpose and taking shallow cuts. 

Just my 0.02 cents on this matter.

mk 

hmm.... have oft thought of a thickness sander... but not really interested in spending the kind of money they cost given the amount of application so have been holding out for a while on one.  so... when I hear you say it was torture I want to know more.  was it issues with tracking?  I'm told all of them have issues there.  further... if I take small bites on my planer on moderately figured wood I get a good finish which makes me wonder if I'd be happy at all with a drum sander.  I understand that with the dewalt (735?) you get a speed control and supposedly leaves a finish ready surface so... maybe that's a better buy?  

my planer is just a $100 craftsman with good brand new blades.  

got my stainless steel frets leveled and dressed... and man are my arms tired!  between the very tight radius of the neck (compound 6" to 8" - unstoppable force) and the rigidity of ss (imovable object) I had to do more crowning than I would have liked esp given it was a pita w stainless.  but we're through that now.

so what are these?  some pitch black photos?  well... er... I guess so.  I did a little live experiment ("I don't usually test my code but when I do... I prefer the live environment") with diy glow in the dark dots.  getting photos was probably harder than doing the dots. 

they certainly don't glow on the level with luminlay... but I really wanted something with color as opposed to that off-white look that most of the luminlay has (not that there is anything wrong w that... just thought it might look better with color for this proj).  They remind me a lot of what you might see on a pistol sight.   

the oak one:

and the purpleheart...

and here is the materials and jist of what I did... 3mm od vinyl tube and glow dust and ca glue.  `first used the pointed nail set to sort of get the clipped tube ends back to circular to make it easier to get the dust in... then the std nail set to pack the dust in a bit.

also finished up my preamps for the piezo...

anywho... just another baby step!

7 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

We discussed that today, a fellow builder said that for him side dots would suffice. For me not that much, these eyes aren't what they used to be and using reading glasses to see the side dots would be ridiculous.

i used to think they were essential for me (face markers)... but I've noticed more and more that all I ever look at is the side dots.  a few of the recent builds I did were w/o side dots and I was surprised how it was so noticeable.  that said... I play classical from time to time and my classical has no dots nor fret markers... usually takes a little practice for big leaps but somehow I manage... I use the force hehe.  both are sure convenient!

grats on gotm!

I think you could probably use just about anything... but is it a good idea?  I don't know but I would lean towards 'not'.  the whole idea of bondo, spackle, joint compound is that it drys fast and is easy to sand.  easy to sand often translates to brittle/light.  I imagine that could lead to a 'soft spot' in your finish down the road.  I try to avoid any filler at all costs... would rather do a bit more work in terms of spray and wet-sanding iterations to end up with a finish that is consistent throughout. 

that said... on ash you almost have to do some kind of filler or you'll be spraying forever... so in those cases I've used some filler that was recommended on a mandolin site.  it drys back and shrinks quite a bit which suggests to me it may be harder... but alas more work as I find myself re-applying several times.  I'm leaning towards some quality epoxy next time I have to do a gloss on ash.  ymmv.

oh and my fav... aerodyne:

just realized no shots of crtl cav... here is cav on back of aerodyne

they did a run of squire neck through - can't recall the name... but the hm strat...

back of hm strat:

and carved top strat

back side of carved top:

congrats on goty.  couldn't happen to a nicer guy nor a nicer build.

so... the more I work on this project the more I seem to have to do yet... oh boy.  

anywho... shined this up to 2500... the flame is there... but i swear still not as obvious as in the wood b4 I cut it... guess we'll see when the finish gets on...

so

so this is a $12 nibbler off amazon.  I cut a small groove with my dremel cutoff wheel.  think I might buy another and take another shot cause i can tell with a slightly tighter groove I might get a cleaner cut but given stainless steel frets... and the fact that it made it to fret 27... and cut pretty clean... can't complain.

and this here is a starette nippers.  a new set will set you back $400.  this rusted old one cost me $25.  it's not perfect... there is an uneven gap on the cutting edge.  not sure what could possibly reshape these ends because they are about as hard as it gets.  these will cut through stainless like nothing.  they don't make 'em like they used to.

here you can see how well the $12 nibblers did:

3 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

A dozen headstock veneers... And some pot knobs from the better parts... Waste of interesting material, IMO.

A roadmap of worm paths filled with some contrasting material on a bookmatched figured top may look gorgeous!

couldn't agree more.

is it really of any use w/o being split?  I'd just split it and let the chips fall where they may.  if you have a lot of worm hole... it could be cool to pack it with mop chips and fill w epoxy.  you could just do some random inlay or makaray to hide it.  won't really know till you see it.

12 hours ago, mattharris75 said:

So, the flu knocked me out for a week. Apparently the vaccine didn't work so well this year... 

Back to work the last day or two and managed to get all the knobs completely finished. I have to say, I'm pretty fired up about these. They're not exactly a difficult thing (though of course they're more involved than one would initially think), but the fact that everything went to plan and there were no hang ups, well, that's an unusual thing in a project! 

I ended up chucking them all up in the drill press and polishing them  with micro mesh papers while they were spinning, all the way to 12,000 grit. Then just a light shot of Tru Oil, also while spinning. Honestly I polished most of it off. These things are as smooth as anything I've ever made, just crazy smooth! And they're going to look great on the bass!

yes... nice knobs.  they compliment the bass well.

On 1/18/2023 at 7:03 AM, Stu. said:

 

"radical" comes to mind.  that is seriously lovely w the glow in the dark and all.  that must be some really "glowy" glow in the dark stuff too... just lit up there.  

gave a listen, very nice.  some really choice guitar playing and wide variety of tones.

14 minutes ago, Stu. said:

Whatever you do, never have carpet tiles in a woodshop. It was such a bad decision! The dust doesn't come out, the glue stays in, and curls of wood get caught everywhere. It is soft on the old feet though.

well I have the equivalent... slab cracks!  they just collect stuff and the only way to clean them is with the compressor and air... and then it makes for a cloudy room for a while... but i get your point!

20 hours ago, henrim said:

When you hear yourself saying “just a little bit more from that corner” you’re done. Stop.

yup... that is it right there.  for a stint I worked putting edge banding on lam top tables for nurse stations and store displays.  sometimes we'd edge band black malamine... and you'd have to hit the edges with a file and clean them up... man one slip on that stuff and you'd have white lines you could see from space.  Needless to say: over and over i learned that lesson!

20 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Good point about burning through with a machine. I've done that with finer than 220. It's even easier at the edge, especially if there's some sort of a clearcoat. Same thing with bubbles or other proud spots.

Didn't think you were talking about veneer-veneer (0.55 mm) instead of a drop top (~5 mm) but the piece of advice I wrote is valid for any sort of sanding. Adding to that, hand sanding is meditative.

i guess it never occurred to me that by veneer someone could have meant a thin top... could be either way I guess only op knows for sure.

that's crazy clean... I haven't seen my garage floor in months... all purple and maple colored!!

my advice: don't.  I've sanded lots of veneer in my days as a cab maker and I can tell you that anything more than a simple "once over" - just to say you hit it... is gonna result in a burn through.  it is super easy. 

the best part is... you don't even need to burn through to make a blemish that you won't be able to hide later... simply make the lamination thin enough and it'll have a "splotchy/dark" spot that stands out. 

when you say "smooth out"... that doesn't sound good to me... is there a bubble in your veneer or something?

veneer is typically 1/40" thick... that is less than .03".  even with 220 on it... hit a high spot with an orbital sander and you will instantly burn through.  I say this because you say you've never done before... that sounds like a recipe for a burn through.  Personally I would suggest you manually sand it with 220 and up... little more work but much harder to burn through.

just one aholes o... i wish you the best of luck.

44 minutes ago, Stu. said:

So glad I wasn't the only one thinking about scales. 2.5 years too late though.

 

All of the little details are great on these and I'm looking forward to seeing the flamed maple and purpleheart popping with finish! That's such a pretty wood combination

thanks, yes a classic combo. thank you for noticing!

this job has been riddled with re-work... and today is no exception... in starting to put together my electronics I realize 1) that I have to do a "left handed" version of my piezo preamp because the "right handed" layout puts the board right where the barrel jack will poke into the cavity... and 2) the top is too thick for the pot shafts... so will have to take another manual wack at the control cavity.  just never ending!

1 hour ago, Bizman62 said:

I've heard/read that too. But my own experience tells it doesn't if your sanding technique is up to the task.

If you put all the weight of your shoulders on the sandpaper and never clean the dust off the paper you can burnish wood with 16 grit! Yes, you read right, sixteen grit. I've seen that happen. It's the coagulated dust that burnishes wood, not the abrasive.

I've often compared sanding to mowing your lawn. The intention is to cut the grass, not steamroll it level with the ground. Similarly you can think that each abrasive fragment is a blade which only can cut the distance between the tip and the paper base. In 16 grit it's about 3 mm, past 400 we're talking about thousandths of a millimetre. The finer the paper the more your sanding should look and feel like fondling rather than working.

As I said, accumulated dust can coagulate into a hard shiny plate with quite a lot of friction. Mesh abrasives are a bit more forgiving as part of the dust comes through. Using your fingers instead of a sanding block can also tell about dust buildup before any harm is done as you can feel both the temperature and any lumps under the paper.

Pet, don't rub!

well sanding softer is def faster - I've learned that lesson as a solid surface fab.  the key there being to join things with no visible lines... and to do that you have to remove mill marks w/o taking things out of square.  If you sand w a lot of pressure... you are guaranteed to take it out of square.  Also heats up the sandpaper and makes it wear faster.  So a lot of benefits to sanding w very little pressure and it makes sense that pressure/heat would be much more likely to burnish.  Is a good point to always remove dust as much as possible while working.

def believe that sanding reveals figure, but all that said... still think there is something to just letting wood sit and age.  when I buy wood that has been sitting... even rough cut, that surface always shows the grain really well.  as soon as I start working it... seems like I'm always trying to get back to that state the wood was in.  this top has all sorts of mill marks and yet the figure is really popping right now... not a smooth surface on it yet as I haven't sanded the face at all.  It def did not pop like this right after I milled it.  makes me wonder if I should try some future experiment with making some tanin and doing an extremely light application.   

46 minutes ago, ScottR said:

The handling also adds skin oil transfer. The higher sanding also increases reflectance, and the light scattering enhances the figure.

SR

if it was handling... you'd think you'd see it more around the edges... but it is very consistent and I doubt I touched it quite THAT much.  which makes me think it's something else altho I am aware that hand oils def do influence. 

fully aware of the risk that I've asked you this before... but as i recall you sand up beyond 400 yes?  It sticks in my mind because I've read many say that after 400 grit you start to burnish the wood.  

18 minutes ago, ScottR said:

My experience is the finer you sand it the more it pops and moves.

SR

well I s'pose that it could be that the body got 'buffed' by being handled... but it is so evenly spread that I really think there is something happening afa ageing that is bringing that flame out.  that said... I'm sure sanding it up really good and then ensuring all the dust is gone... will also bring out the flame well.

thank you for your input sir!!

58 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Following the K.I.S.S. philosophy, flat for me as well!

tru dat